Science Vs God for children

Since the time of the awareness and growth of Science as a Subject in the West, there has been the decline in the faith of God which has also spread to the East. We have questioned the presence of God and have failed to explain the logic or the benefits of the faith system in the God.

Faith has never been more important than it is today. We are moving towards physical isolation through nuclear families, non-physical isolation due to competition across family and at work. There is lot of unwanted and unreal fear, stress, loss of trust, insecurity. To overcome this some people have come with philosophies. Some of the Popular successful have been regular Positive Affirmations, Law of attraction etc.. These philosophies may be new and is helping lot of people around the world. But we were doing this from time immemorial with Positive Affirmations and Positive visualization by visiting temples every day , praying and visualizing positive things. Faith in God has kept mankind sane, like in one of the Vachanas  "the Religion to life is like 2 wheels of the bullock cart, without which the cart cannot go forward to the destined place and neither the life without the religion". I am not referring destined place to heavens , but towards life without fear, stress and insecurity.

It is difficult and may be impossible to generate faith when mind is clouded with logic. It is time to make the life easier and simple ( which it is :)  )  for the next generation in teaching them THE SCIENCE OF GOD!

Journey in the dark and the debate of light

On my way to Hassan district to attend the marriage of my friend's sister, i got a bliss of company in the Bus. It was about 5 when i got the bus to Hassan from the Magestic bus stand. I got a seat in the last bench towards the left. I was reading history about the time of "Dark age in India during the time of the British". There was a old man with no foot wear sitting next to me asked me if i can fix the time settings on his phone. I set the time on his phone and then i continued reading. It was at dusk at about 6 when i got bored of reading and at the same time the old man next to me asked to stop reading as it would hurt my eyes. So i closed the book, kept it in my bag. But there was a question in my mind bothering me, that was if there was a any profound influence of the British and was there any agitation in Karnataka after Tippu Sultan. As there was an old man sitting next to me, i asked him if he had be influenced directly by British and was he involved in any agitation against them. He said he wouldn't know about the British unless he had not read it in his school. That cleared my question that people in Karnataka weren't suppressed or influenced by British.

Then after some time i asked him about the Gram Sabha's meeting in his village, which happens once in 3 months. He said that the meetings happen, but are not so efficient. I asked why cannot the people in the village elect the prompt Chairman so that they can do better job for the village. That made him tell me about some of the factual stories. There was a person who gave around 1000 rupees and clothes to every house in the village to get elected, but no one turned out to vote for him even though they took money, :). Another person used different names to use the Government policies for the personal benefits, by drilling more bore wells in his personal land. He mentioned that GOD is always monitoring the deeds, and that person did not get a drop of water even though there is a large water table just next to his personal land, :). He said currently there is a good chairman who is less corrupt and does good things for the society. But my question was cant there be a government organisation without any corruption. Then i could hear a feeble voice from the right corner on the same row i was sitting. Then started the real debate with this new middle aged person.

The discussion went for about 3 hours, we spoke about the current problems in India and most of them were about, what we would read in newspaper. Hence i will not mention the detailed version of the discussion, but would like to mention some of the points the gentle man made that stood out.

• He wants the "nominations for the Elections to happen the previous night, so that there is no chance for the canvassing and none of the illegal activities from the political sources are carried out". There are lot of challenges and some flaws for this method but that is definitely a thought that to can be improved further before implementing.
• He sees a Corruption less future as the next generation was getting good education. I disagreed to that point because when people get smarter, they find smarter way of cheating. There is a need for feeling of moral sense in every mind. And if that does not come soon, the day is not far when bribery becomes legal. To put off that day, some of our prominent officials in the government are making great strategies. But the problem is that strategies are not getting converted into the laws because of our current corrupt politics.

The bus stopped for a break where we could have the coffee. The middle aged gentle man offered me a coffee. He said that i should have been a reporter or in the army :). Then we got on to the bus where the discussion continued.

• He asked why do we have to make a fuzz about film actors where they just do the work for there own personal satisfaction. He gave an example of the Raj Kumar Kidnap incident, where there was lot of riots and a lot of public damage which was unnecessary. Raj Kumar was undoubtedly the greatest actor ever, but what help has been done to the poor people in the villages who were affected. I could feel the mixture of anger and cry from within from him, but none the less they are moving on in life, without depending on others.
• In his village there was student who wanted to study Medical science. The student promised the whole village that he would spend the first 20 years salary for the infrastructure of the village. So all the people in the village requested the renowned college run by a Swamiji for a seat in that college. But their request was rejected as they could not afford the donation.
• When one gets such a disappointment, people react in different ways. One person threw the foot wear on that Swamiji in the public meeting. In public this person was pardoned by the same swamiji, but the same person was not seen again in the next meeting. He remembered what his grand father used to say to him when he used to scold others in front of public. He told me that if i need to take my frustration off, i just to go to a place where no one can hear or see me and shout. From that moment, i make sure that i listen to my father, who has been giving me the wisdom of life, which i had always neglected.

As i said before there were lot of stuff we discussed, and some good thoughts that i bought home. The time came to say good bye when he had to get down at his stop. We both did not know each others names but we both had lot of admiration which i could feel in the air.

Dogs and "Humanity"

Today i got up at 2:00 am to study, it was just like any other morning, boring and dull :). I went to bed at 4:30 am to take a nap for an hour. I heard the gate of my house move. I dint bother to look, because i knew it was the street dog, who takes shelter under the car inside the gate. I could hear a cry of the dog. I still dint bother to look.

The noise of the gate did not stop, i thought the dog is just confused and wandering in and out. But suddenly i felt there were many dogs inside because i could hear few cry and few barking. I had no option to check out as i was just lying on the bed. To my surprise, there were 4 dogs and 2 puppies. These puppies were just born and their mother was trying to find a warm place for the puppies. And i recognized the other 3 dogs as regulars who take shelter under my car everyday.

Even my dad, and my dog Manju woke up and came down to ground floor to see what is happening. Me and Manju were exited to see these puppies, he started sniffing them. The mother of puppies was continuously licking the puppies to make them feel worm.

The fat mother of the puppies went wriggling, twisting and turning through the small gaps in the gates. Few days back i had to tried to cover these gaps as much as possible to stop the dogs from coming in, but as i see now everything was a waste.

I thought i will go back to take my nap. But still i again heard the noise of the gate, i knew this mother came in again. I looked over the window, I saw the mother had got another puppy inside and was licking it continuously. The dog was licking every puppy turn by turn.

This is not first time, i have seen so much love and affection among the dogs. I remember when i was in engineering, a puppy of few months gave its life by fasting because his brother died in front of him. I remember trying to feed him, he did not have a single bite till his death.

There is so much humanity in the dogs. They have the character of there own, they are determined, they are kind, they enjoy, they get angry and so on.

We humans have added a new character i.e 'jealousy' into the Humanity. There is structure where jealousy leads to a large scale destruction and violence.

Jealousy -> Corruption -> Poverty -> violence( naxalism, maoism etc).

I would make another post trying to understand how the above structure works.

But coming back to the primary scope here, i.e , we humans can change and remove jealousy and start loving everyone around. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says that " You can attain God by profound devotion and Such devotion is attained by sincere love"

So we can see god and have a feel of satisfaction of seeing him through unconditional love.

Solo Sakleshpur

I want to share my experience last week end.
I left office about 6:00 am. Anto dropped me to the bus station. I had 1200 Rs with me.
I had no plans for the trip and also no one also waiting for me at the destination. I am leaving to Sakleshpur.
I got a bus as I reached the Bangalore bus station. I took the bus and started my journey. I took a ticket for 142 Rupees. In the bus as usual I was in my own world thinking, what I can be in future and what I want to do in my life, not expecting anything from the trip.
I reached Sakleshpur at around 11:00 AM and booked a lodge at the bus station. I paid 300 rupees in advance for the Room, but I will be charged only 150, if I leave the room in a day.
I left my bag in my room to one of the Forts in Donikal which was built by Tippu Sultan. It is about 6 to 7 kilometers from the room I was in. The scenery on the way was good but not as much I get to see in future. I saw a shop on the road with good designer tools. I took a nice stool and asked them to get it painted and told them that I will take when I am going back. I continued my path to the fort. The fort was good, with lot of secret passages where one passage was to Mysore and the other was to Srirangapatna. I do not know if that is true, but if it is true, then they deserve to be applauded.
Something was missing, I was getting bored. I had Ipod which helped me pass the time. Now it was around 2:00PM and I wanted to get back to my room sleep as I left directly from office without sleeping. On the way back I wanted to take the stool which I brought. The stool was still wet from the paint which they had just covered with. To spend some time I climbed a small mountain which was lush green and slept for half an hour in the rain. When I got back the stool was ready, I took another wooden duck piece and a bottle of honey. I spend about 550 rupees here and took an auto and got back to my room. I was really tired and hence slept at 4:00 PM. I got up at 7:00PM and thought It was the next day. J
I went out to buy a Tamil Songs CD in the city. I went wandering and found a CD shop and bought the CD with the latest songs. I had 2 plates of Masala puri on the streets. And came back to the room and slept at 9:30. At the end of day, I have 150 rupees with me and as will be leaving the room the next day, I will be getting 150 from the lodge and hence the virtually I had 300. Kept an alarm for 6:00 AM next day and Slept.

Had a sound sleep and the alarm woke me at 6:00 but I got up from the bed only after 6:30. The guys from the lodge provided hot water for bath. I left the room as soon I was ready. People around told me that there is a Railway track on which people trek.
I went to the same fort where I was the other day but this time in the bus. Now I dint go to the fort this time but started walking towards the track asking the directions. I was getting bored and hence I was climbing the Cliffs next to the roads, but still I dint have feel of satisfaction. I saw a truck upside down on the way. I reached a estate which had the railway tracks.

The person at the estate was looking at me with suspicion as I was going alone. I got the track and started my journey. I was scary as there was forest on either sides and I was alone. After a few KMs, I received a message from my dad asking about my health. I called home and assured them I am safe. Anto calls me and at the same time when I came across a bridge of about 60 to 70 meters. I told him how beautiful the bridge was and the water flowing below and dropped off the phone. I crossed few meters and came back, thinking I do not have to do the stunts. I was walking back towards where I came from, but a voice in my head asked me to get back and cross it. I slowly looked at the bridge, I saw at 2 places in between on the bridge where I can stand in case the train comes on the bridge when I am on. I started moving steadily on the bridge moving towards the end and ran when I was close to the end.
As I move forward I was in between the lush forest. I was alone; hence I had a stone ready in my hand, just in case if an animal attacks me. After few KMs I found a station i.e. Donikal station. I met a group of 7 people starting there trek from that point. They had come to that place the previous night and stayed in the tent in the same tent. I moved towards them and introduced myself. Found out that they are engineers recently passed out from Hubli. They were all working in different companies. I just got into their group and we started acting like a team. We crossed few bridges and came to the first tunnel. In this tunnel there is an opening which will take us to the cliff from which we can see a beautiful waterfall. We sat in this place for few minutes and suddenly we hear a train passing through the tunnel, from which we just came out of Window. There is a place at the cliff which is very scary, but can have a nice view from there. They had Krackjack biscuits which were really required as I was very hungry.
Slowly moved out of the tunnel and continued towards their destination, and me without any plan of how to get back to the room just marched forward without a second thought. Like always we had some people slowing the whole group down but when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Hence after time the speed of the whole team was almost the same. By this team, we had become close that I was lifting there heaviest bag as they were all bragging about who will lift.
We came near a longest bridge so far and we saw a crowd of about 40 people waiting for the train to cross as there was red signal. Two of my friends just started to walk on the bridge. And when they approached towards the 3/4th of the bridge they hear a train. They run towards a place on the bridge to stand until the train passes by. The Train came after 5 minutes and when it has crossed we all crossed the bridge.
The favorite part of the journey for me was now. It started raining heavily and we are all tired and I am carrying a heavy bag and we were moving fast. After 10 KMs from the Donikal station we got another station where we ran to take shelter. I dint have a Jacket neither a shirt to change to. I took of the cloth I was wearing and dried it as much as possible. In the meantime, friends from Hubli started unpacking a stove and boiling water. They had got Ready to eat packets from MTR, which they started heating in the boiling water. They offered me rasam rice. Warm food, when I was very hungry and after getting wet was really a moment of my journey. There were more than 40 people there with us. When the rain reduced most of the groups made a choice of going back as they will not get any means of transport at the place of our destination. We just moved forward toward the destination. I would like to tell those people who went back that “ the beauty of the forest kept increasing , the forest got thicker, rained continuously , longer bridges and tunnels.” I felt like not coming back. Hope I had a chance to be there.
We were losing hope of reaching the destination, as we dint know the exact distance to the Yedakumari. But as we move along we got see people working on the tracks and got to know that it is only 2 more KMs away. I started picking up speed and with another person reached the destination first and we met few people who took two days to trek the distance we did in half day. It was about 6:00 PM in the evening.
I want to remind you guys that I had 150 in hand and will get 150 if I go back to my lodge before 12:00PM. It will take 150 for the ticket to Bangalore and about 50 rupees to get back to my lodge. Hence I need to make it before 12:00.
So when I asked the people at the yedakumari station if I can get a train or bus to Sakleshpur , he told me that there are no trains to Sakleshpur and then showed me a road which was at a distance and told me that there is a thick forest in-between and there are wild elephants. But there is a hope of getting back as there was a Load train which will go to Kukke, and from there I can get a bus to Sakleshpur. We started the stove and had Maggie this time. There was lot of water put into it, it had become a soup. I loved it. They had planned to stay there a night and then trek to Kukke the next day. They were all tired and dint want to continue and hence they wanted to come with me to kukke and take a room.
The load train is scheduled to be there at the station in an hour. I could not stay but stare at the beauty of the Forest. It was thick and all covered with clouds. I feel in love with the freedom which I felt there. I was not able to walk as I had rashes in my legs as my clothes were wet the whole time. But some managed to get on to the train for which I had to walk towards the end of the train. I hoped on to it , but there was twist to the story here, the train’s brakes weren’t applying properly. They got hammer and got it to work. When the train starts it pulls like a rocket is taking off from the ground. I had my heart in my mouth.
But at last the train started moving. I thought the fun was over and I get to go back home safe and sound. The Forest had lots more to offer. The train went passed through the longest tunnels , bridges which were more than a KM. I had my Ipod on and listening to my kuttu songs and feeling at the top of the world. I was feeling my biceps which had become harder. I was feeling fit. I was already planning for next weekend.
Reached the Railway station at Kukke and from the Bus stop was about 10 KMs and hence had to take a jeep. We took a jeep and moved towards the Bus stop. I saw many Mallus there; in fact our driver was also one. We had a good discussion about the place and what he was doing before.
I thought if I can take some money from these guys, I can go home without depending on the money what I was expecting from the lodge.
I promise that asking for something is tougher than giving it away. I made up mind somehow and asked them 100 Rupees, there was a sudden silence there and there was a person at the back who dint hear it and so I asked again and this time also there was complete silence. I really don’t want to comment on this, but this was moment I can remember.
I told good bye and shook hands and took an auto towards the bus station as the jeep was stopped near a lodge where they wanted to stay in Kukke.
I now have 140 rupees and the time is 10:00PM. I need to be in the lodge in Sakleshpur by 12:00 to get the money to go home.
I don’t know what I was thinking , but I was sure that I can be in the lodge by 12:00 and took a packet of Banana chips of 15 rupees.
I got a bus at about a 10:10 expected to be in Sakleshpur by 12:30 maximum, which is Ok as I can argue with the people in the lodge and get my money as it was only half an hour late. Now I have 80 rupees after paying for the bus.
I had figured out everything and everything would be great if thinks happen whatever I wish for. The destiny had been written with some other script already. On the way to Sakleshpur there was a huge truck which was broken down and had stopped the vehicles to pass by on one side. There was traffic for KMs. I dint have a place to sit in the bus to add to the fun. I was sitting on a newspaper when the bus was moving, but when the bus was stopped there the conductor left his seat for me to sit for a while on his chair. We were waiting at a single place for about 2 hours. I got fed up and I wanted to stop the other side so that at least for a while the vehicles can move from our side. Conductor gave me the Umbrella and a whistle and asked me to do whatever I can as he already had tried that. When we got down walking towards the Lorry, the vehicles started moving forward. We hopped on to the bus and suddenly the vehicles started moving on our side. I was not sure if I get the money at the lodge, so I was making alternative plans. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew everything will go well.
I reached Sakleshpur at 2:00 AM and the gate of the lodge was locked. I called the lodge no body picked up the phone. I had nothing to do and hence kept calling him. Fourth time was the lucky time, he picked up the phone and I asked him to open up the gates. He came and opened the door. Now is the time for negotiation to get the money from him. I told according to the rules, they don’t have to give anything, but told him my position that I got delayed because of the bus and after a long discussion he agreed to give 100 rupees.
From then there were no twists came back home.
This story is not a life changing scenario but a one which I cannot forget for a long long time.